Dark Crescent
Jared Cross is the former director of M.E.T.A. Labs and the protégé of Ken Drake, who turned himself into a villainous meta-human called the Dark Crescent in order to seek retribution upon the superhero Energy, vowing to make him pay for all the anguish he caused in his life, thus making him his most powerful nemesis. After the formation of the Icons, Jared Cross became the new M.E.T.A. Labs director. Over the following months, he began to doubt the valiant efforts of New Gemini's so-called meta-human heroes, and after discovering the true identity of Energy, he lost all faith in the Icons. Working alongside Edward Black against the metas, Jared activated a Particle Accelerator on himself, turning his skin purple. Awakening a meta-human, Jared swore retribution upon Ben Stone due to his responsibility in his family's death. Becoming the Dark Crescent, Jared embarked on a crusade against his new nemesis, killing Energy's mother and severely injuring his fiancé Firebrand. Entering an intense duel, Jared was nearly killed by Energy, but managed to escape into the night. __TOC__ Biography Early Life Jared Cross was born in the city of New Gemini on October 2, 1980 to Adrian Cross and Evelyn Cross, two very productive scientists and entrepreneurs. Growing up mostly in orderly satisfaction, Jared took an interest to succeed his parents due to them being an immense inspiration to him, eventually graduating from Gemini City University, determined to become a scientist like his parents, in particular looking up to scientist prodigy Ken Drake. In 2002, four years after Dr. Ken Drake founded the upcoming technological giant M.E.T.A. Labs, Jared - due to similarly being a prodigy like Drake - was personally invited by the uprising scientist to join M.E.T.A. Labs, becoming Jared's mentor in the process. The two oversaw the evolution of M.E.T.A. Labs over the next following years, eager to continue it's development for it to become one of the most successful businesses in the world. Untimely Life Struggle In 2007, Jared married Maria Ann-Cross and began to conduct larger projects without Ken Drake's personal supervision. However, one of Cross' inventions would go haywire and decimated M.E.T.A. Labs. Although extremely reluctant, Ken Drake was forced to suspend his own protégé from working there anymore. With no other company willing to hire him and desperate to support his family, Cross resorted to selling his weaponized inventions, secretly stolen from M.E.T.A. Labs, to New Gemini's black market, doing so over the course of nearly two years. Towards the end of 2009, Jared met the young upcoming engineer Ben Stone, who too was somewhat of a protégé of Ken Drake, on a tour inside M.E.T.A. Labs. Deciding to reveal all to Ben due to his affiliation with Drake, this made Ben to agree to help Cross up his feat, convincing Drake he could help change Cross' public image once again, which Drake ultimately agreed to. Despite the fact that Ben helped Jared return to M.E.T.A. Labs, the two developed a long rivalry due to their clashing ideologies about M.E.T.A. Labs - and due to their past and present affiliation with Dr. Ken Drake. Additionally, in 2011, Jared fathered a son with Maria - Walter Cross. Director of M.E.T.A. Labs Becoming the New Director In January 2018, following the end of the Uprising Conflict and the formation of the superhero group known as the Icons, Jared Cross was promoted to the rank of Director of M.E.T.A. Labs as Ken Drake announced he was taking a leave of absence from directing the company, but still retained his position of CEO. Jared promptly reintroduced himself to his rival Ben Stone and his fiancé Kaitlyn Cooper as their new boss, announcing that he'll begin to reshape the company in an even better direction. Despite this, he'd often come into conflict with New Gemini's villainous band of meta-humans, including the terrorist known as Phyagdarr, who attempted to ransack M.E.T.A. Labs. As Jared continued his mission to reacquire the city's trust again for M.E.T.A. Labs, he'd also, albeit reluctantly, work with the Icons on numerous occasions, such as when several M.E.T.A. Labs warehouses were being robbed by nefarious meta-humans, forcing Jared, Energy and Blacklight to work together to solve the case. Whilst deciding to remain neutral with the Icons, Jared found something very familiar in Energy, and thus was often stern and suspicious of his true allegiance to the world. Doubting the Meta-humans In February 2018, New Gemini was under attack by a new powerful meta-human terrorist called Siox. Beginning to doubt the Icons and the heroic meta-humans all over the city due to their increasing failure to stop the rising dangers of terrorists with supernatural power that threaten all of Mankind, Jared started to support anti-meta protests led by a political figure named Kayne. In one of them, he was confronted by the superhero Energy, who questioned his affiliation with the protestors. Jared simply replied that the meta-humans are changing the world, and that the people of New Gemini are starting to see the truth of their failures to protect their city from these new meta-human terrorists. The two got into an unfriendly chat, leading Energy to take off, with Jared remarking that he knew he was right. A few months later, in May, new accusations made by Jadus Industries' CEO Malcolm Jadus that implied that Ken Drake is secretly in league with the terrorist organization Black-Hand were running rampant in New Gemini. Jared called his employees Ben Stone, Kaitlyn Cooper and Kenji Kenshin for a meeting, discussing their next move. However, the group were sought out to be investigated by Michael Hemsey and Narukami Junichi. After the meeting concluded, Jared called out Ben for an anomaly with their old, weaponized projects, leading to an argument between the two, up until Ken Drake himself arrived to make a big speech, denouncing Malcolm Jadus and proving the accusations were all but lies. Finding out the Truth After the Icons successfully defeated the villainous Baron Jadus and his supervillain alliance in the Battle of New Gemini, their identities were exposed to the entire world thanks to the meta-human supremacist known as Oblivion. Jared Cross discovered Energy's true identity, his rival Ben Stone. Beginning to despise and mistrust his co-worker now that it was revealed he was really a superhero, Jared personally managed to infiltrated the Icons Facility without getting detected and confronted Ben. The two went somewhere private to talk before Cross became hostile and ridiculed Ben for truly being Energy, a meta-human. The two argued until Ben called Cross a criminal due to his untimely past with his affiliation with the black market. Disgusted and fed up with Ben, Jared promptly fired him from M.E.T.A. Labs, taking Ben by shock. He threatened Jared, pinning him onto the wall and punching the other side of it with a Lightforce-infused punch. Jared teased Ben on how he just assaulted him. The other Icons arrived, leading Jared to sternly leave the facility without much opposition. A few days later, in M.E.T.A. Labs, the new CEO of Wilder Enterprises Edward Black (secretly Oblivion) approached Jared Cross in his office, using his powers to influence his mind to begin a new Particle Accelerator project to counter the increasing threats of the meta-humans, something to which Jared agreed to in the first place. Using his resources to continue working on this new project, Jared led an anti-meta protest outside of M.E.T.A. Labs due to the formation of the supremacist group known as the Meta Revolution. Confronted by Energy, Blacklight, Hacknet and the Enchanter, who warned his protests will only bring out a war between them and the other metas. Unfazed, Jared continued his protest with his colleagues, joined by a recovering Edward Black. He eccentrically revealed his new project, the second Particle Accelerator. Energy quickly faced Jared inside the M.E.T.A. Labs building and urged him to stop. Despite this, Jared persisted, which forced Energy to get him out as the Accelerator exploded, repulsing throughout the vicinity, destroying half of the building. Energy managed to save Jared's life, much to his protests. Jared frantically called his wife Maria, but was distracted when Energy took off. Attempting to shoot him with his handgun, this became futile as Energy was plunged into battle with the supervillain Lightstroke. Attempting to reunite with his wife and son Walter, Jared was forced to escape in his car when Energy's battle with Lightstroke intensified. Energy blasted his opponent onto a building, causing it to crumble and crush Maria and Walter, much to Jared's shock and despair. Left with nothing, Jared returned to the M.E.T.A. Labs building after the Icons defeated Oblivion. Confronted by Energy once again, Jared declared himself Ben's mortal enemy, before he was forced to activate the Particle Accelerator on himself when Krimson attempted to stop him. The upcoming repulse turned Jared's skin purple, transforming him into a meta-human, now knocked unconscious. Retribution Becoming the Dark Crescent Weeks after he transformed himself into a meta-human, Jared Cross awakened inside New Gemini General Hospital. After the death of his wife and son and disgusted by his transformation into a meta-human, Jared declared to have his retribution upon Energy for the anguish he caused in his life. He decided to test his newfound powers on the hospital - wiping out all the nearby staff. As he began to leave, devastating anything in his sight, he was greeted by the members of H.I.V.E. and the Vindicator Epsilon. After a short skirmish, Jared escapes the hospital and infiltrates M.E.T.A. Labs - where he steals one of their prototype suits. Killing the guards and demonstrating his newfound power, he started to work on the suit, changing it's gray coloration to a black and purple design. For his namesake, he attached a crescent onto the helmet, now christened as the Dark Crescent, the total opposite of his brand-new nemesis, Energy. Meanwhile, Ben Stone decided to meet Dr. Ken Drake inside his countryside manor, looking for advice in an effort to stop Jared from hurting anyone else after he ransacked a hospital. After a brief chat, and the arrival of Guardian, the three of them discuss Jared's sudden chaotic behavior. However, they spoke of the devil, as the Dark Crescent attacks - incapacitating Ben and the Guardian, taunting the former and mocking him. After a short battle, Jared was ambushed by Segaterious, who shot an electric arrow onto his back, stunning him. The Dark Crescent was knocked back by the archer, and then decided to escape the scene. Battle with Energy In the aftermath of his first fight with Ben Stone, Jared wasted no more time and initiated the next phase of his vengeance. Infiltrating the News Gemini building, wreaking havoc and taking hostages, the Dark Crescent made a broadcast to Energy and the Icons. Challenging him to a duel at City Center, Dark Crescent showed Ben all the carnage he unleashed in the Oblivion Crisis. He called his acts 'chivalrous' and sinisterly smirked at Ben, awaiting his arrival. Making himself known at City Center, the Dark Crescent was looking for Ben, calling him out. Instead, he was met by the heroic vigilante Kid Arachnid. The two fought, Jared overpowering eventually overpowering the young hero. Songbird and Rob witnessed the fight in the news and also entered the battle against the Dark Crescent, but to no avail. Just then, Energy himself arrived at City Center, pummeling the Dark Crescent across the street. Exchanging bitter talk, with Jared mocking Ben's valiant efforts, stating that Jared Cross was dead, the two finally entered a vicious duel. Demonstrating their immense Lightforce powers respectively, the two fought on the ground and later in the skies, destroying much of the nearby environment. Dark Crescent gained the upperhand during their destructive battle, blasting Energy onto a rooftop. Taking and examining his Energy Sword, he was ambushed by Prism, who arrived to help out Energy. However, Dark Crescent was having none of that, as he quickly took Energy by surprise, gripping him by the throat and hurling him into a skyscraper, causing it to collapse. Kid Arachnid quickly went to the rescue, using all of his remaining strength to stop the building from crumbling. Energy and Prism put Dark Crescent into a standstill, but he quickly released a torrent of violet energy into Energy's head, greatly wounding him. Realizing what must be done, Prism injured Dark Crescent in return and captured him, Jared gloating Prism was 'weak'. Achieving Vengeance Imprisoned by Prism and the Mystic within a Temple in the Himalayas, the Mystic interrogated Jared Cross on his reasoning for his quest of retribution. Jared simply asked the Mystic if he would show compassion to anyone who'd ruin his life. The Mystic said that makes one stronger. After an exchange between the two, the Mystic sent Jared into a pocket dimension. An hour later, however, he was confronted by a mysterious figure who granted him a second change at revenge, freeing him from the pocket dimension. As soon as he is free, he raids Ben Stone's old home and kidnaps Ben's mother, Jasmine Stone, wishing for payback after what Ben had done to Jared's family. Jared holds Jasmine in a decrepit warehouse on the outskirts of New Gemini, as he reveals to the Icons through a video message, mocking Ben's efforts at keeping his loved ones safe. The Icons, splitting up into two groups, went to the warehouse. Golden Knight, Hacknet and the Enchanter arrived within. Surprisingly, Dark Crescent wasn't there - replaced by an energy manifestation of himself and Jasmine. The warehouse suddenly went dark, revealing the mercenary Deathwatch - whom Jared had hired to defeat the Icons in the warehouse. After a rough battle, with many incapacitated, Deathwatch was defeated by the valiant heroes. Meanwhile, Jared had taken Jasmine back to her home - whilst he crafts his own sword out of Ununennium, gifted to him by Shiro Shimo back when he was the director of M.E.T.A. Labs. Energy comes to face Dark Crescent in his old home, as Jared reveals his powerful new weapon. He shoots Ben in the gut, incapacitating him. Stating that now he'll finally know how he felt all along, Jared impaled Jasmine using his new sword. Dark Crescent escaped, leaving Ben to grovel over his late mother as he finally began to achieve revenge. Power Grid Brawl Right after killing Jasmine Stone in cold blood and leaving Energy to grieve over the death of his mother, the Dark Crescent was chased in the skies by Hacknet throughout New Gemini, joined by the Enchanter. Engaging the supervillain in a brief skirmish, Jared managed escaped the grasp of these heroes, flying over to a nearby power grid. Energy, alongside Firebrand, Prism Hacknet and the Enchanter arrived at the power grid. The group was met by energy manifestations of the Dark Crescent, who taunted an enraged Energy on his failure to protect his loved ones. Having enough, the Icons immediately engaged the Dark Crescent in a final brawl. As they continued their battle, the Icons were joined by Blacklight. Beginning to overpower the Dark Crescent, the team hatched a plan to overload Jared's Ununennium Sword using the power grid's energy. As Energy restrained Dark Crescent, Hacknet provided Prism with the means to do so, but after executing the attack, shrapnel from the sword struck all the nearby heroes, injuring both Energy and Firebrand. Dark Crescent quickly seized this opportunity and grabbed ahold of Firebrand, landing atop the roof of Shimo Labs, gloating over to a stressed and angered Ben, taunting him to "come get his girlfriend". Despite a brief exchange between Kaitlyn and Jared - much to Ben's warnings and protests - the Dark Crescent shot her in the chest, letting her fall onto the ground. However, this merely triggered her true aggressive nature as he suddenly attacked her allies, escaping into the night. Prism engaged Jared in retaliation, but was interrupted as Energy came down and sent a furious beatdown onto his nemesis, nearly killing him in the process. Jared sent a Lightforce explosion onto Ben, using this opportunity to vanish from sight. in the process. Later, Jared Cross arrived inside a hidden lair underneath the city, setting up his personal base of operations. Villainous Operations Project Calus ''To be added. Personality A charismatic yet stern no-nonsense figure within M.E.T.A. Labs, Jared Cross is the protégé of Ken Drake, and after the Uprising Conflict became the Director of M.E.T.A. Labs, a second-in-command position he attained through years focusing and perfecting his work within the company. Jared also deeply cares about his family, his wife Maria and his son Walter. He was shown to be desperate enough to sell M.E.T.A. Labs weapons through the black market. In the process, he became a secretive and discrete man, only revealing his errors to Ken Drake through an ultimatum made by his rival Ben Stone. When the meta-humans first arrived to New Gemini, Jared was extremely skeptical of them, despite the introduction of heroes such as the Icons. As the meta-human population grew, multiple terrorist attacks made by meta-humans drew Jared's attention as he began to doubt the metas, beginning to resent them in the process. After he discovered Energy's true identity, his rival Ben Stone, he began to resent him further, as he chose to fire him, believing M.E.T.A. Labs was compromised through Ben's presence. He went as far as to ally with Edward Black and began to work against the metas. All of this escalated after the death of his wife and son during a battle between Energy and Lightstroke during the Oblivion Crisis, driving Jared to the edge. Turning a second Particle Accelerator on himself after being confronted by Ben Stone, his skin changed to purple as he became a meta-human himself. As a result of his resentment of meta-humans, failure in his work, the death of his wife and child and his own transformation into a meta-human, Jared's psyche broke as he blamed all the anguish caused in his life to be Ben Stone's fault. Seeking retribution against Ben in an effort to make him feel the same pain he felt, Jared lost all what remained of his morals, and was willing to kill innocents and cause destruction as long as it caused pain in Ben, even going as far as to kill his own mother and to severely injure his fiancé Kaitlyn Cooper. In the end, Jared accepted his fate as a meta-human and began working with Kayne to control and "dominate" the meta-human species, while still focusing his efforts to create Ben Stone's own hell. Powers and Abilities Powers *'Meta-human physiology:' Jared Cross transformed himself into a meta-human after activating his makeshift Particle Accelerator on himself, thus altering his DNA and cells and supercharging them, augmenting his physiology to superhuman levels. **'Energy Manipulation:' Dark Crescent can create, shape and manipulate Lightforce energy, for either defensive or offensive purposes, which is consistently colored violet, but to a far greater degree than his nemesis Energy. It can be transformed into different types of energy, granting Jared numerous powers and abilities, granting him ways to achieve superiority in battle. He can use this power to create force-fields, shoot violet energy blasts and beams, enhance his weapons to make them more effective, create rifts throughout dimensions, and to even absorb any kinds of energy. energy.]] ***'Energy Blasts:' Dark Crescent is capable of drawing raw power using energy manipulation to fire beams of intense energy from his palms, or to rapidly fire violet bolts of energy at his opponents. Dark Crescent can also release blasts over a specific target area causing great damage, delivering great shock waves of pure force. The blast can also be channeled for greater damage and effect against any target. Additionally, due to the nature of his suit and his advanced Lightforce connection, Dark Crescent can make his blasts and beams follow his targets. ***'Energy Construct Creation:' Dark Crescent can create force-fields and shields of varying shapes and sizes using his power of energy manipulation. This can be used for defensive purposes to block, deflect and protect him from incoming attacks. It can also be used for offensive purposes by sending the shield construct flying onto any opponent. ***'Energy Manifestations:' Dark Crescent also unlocked a unique Lightforce ability after his meta-human transformation, allowing him to create living manifestations of energy and use them for various effects. This includes lifelike illusions, living duplicates of himself, advanced living constructs self-guided by him and even create fires and storms out of pure Lightforce energy. ***'Energy Absorption:' Dark Crescent can absorb various forms of energy into his body and use it in various ways, gaining some form of advantage, either by enhancing himself, gaining the drained power, using it as power source, and even to enhance his weaponry by manipulating the energy he absorbed. He has this to a greater extent compared to Energy, allowing him to negate other Lightforce manipulators, albeit to a short duration of time. ***'Flight:' Dark Crescent can use his powers to fly, glide and levitate through manipulation of his personal gravitational energy. He can fly at varying speeds, levitate, or propel himself without taking flight, including enhanced jumping by a short burst of flight. **'Superhuman Strength:' Due to the dark matter entering his body, Dark Crescent's physical strength has been greatly heightened beyond peak human capacities, granting him a degree of superhuman strength, allowing him to battle against many powerful individuals. When flying and charging his momentum, he could smash through machinery, walls, and other platforms easily, or send opponents flying through the air with a single punch. He was notably able to easily overpower Guardian during a brief battle and was very capable of fighting his nemesis Energy in a fierce, destructive duel, gaining the upperhand in the battle. **'Superhuman Durability:' Dark Crescent also posses superhumans levels of durability, making him remarkably resistant towards impact force, blunt strikes, and other meta-human effects and abilities. He was able to go toe-to-toe with Energy and was able to sustain being beaten repeatedly by his nemesis, even when he received help from Prism or when smashed through buildings. Despite this, he can still be wounded by other meta-humans with attacks using greater force. **'Superhuman Stamina:' Dark Crescent posses extraordinary superhuman levels of stamina, never tiring after a lengthy battle, allowing him to continue on his villainous activities for extended periods of time without growing tired or weak. This was demonstrated primarily during his battles with his archnemesis Energy. Abilities *'Peak Physical Condition:' As result of his meta-human transformation into the Dark Crescent, Jared Cross got into peak physical condition from usage of his powers, although not quite on par with the likes of his nemesis Energy. *'Gifted Intelligence:' As the protégé of Ken Drake, Jared Cross is an exceptionally intelligent scientist and engineer, earning him a career in M.E.T.A. Labs. He was capable of conducting the development of the second Particle Accelerator primarily by himself. He was also able to efficiently modify a prototype armored suit into his Dark Crescent Armor, whilst building his very own Ununennium Sword from scratch. Weaknesses *'Psychological Obsession:' Obsessed with Ben Stone due to his responsibility for the death of his wife and son, and due to their past history together in M.E.T.A. Labs, Jared Cross vowed to have retribution upon Energy, becoming a supervillain known as the Dark Crescent. However, his grudge with Energy can be manipulated against him, and distract him. Equipment *'Dark Crescent Armor:' Jared Cross utilizes a specialized full-body black and purple suit of armor as his villainous alter-ego Dark Crescent, which he modified himself and implemented a purple metallic crescent onto the suit's helmet. Composed of and powered by a dwarf star alloy, the armor strong enough to withstand damage from bullets, energy blasts and explosives, whilst also enhancing his powers, greatly augmenting damage potential, accuracy and recoil. *'Ununennium Sword:' Crafted by Jared Cross himself inside a M.E.T.A. Labs workshop, the Dark Crescent carried a powerful bladed sword made out of Ununennium. Extremely durable, Dark Crescent used the weapon when he killed Energy's mother in cold blood, and whilst also battling the Icons at a power grid. However, it was destroyed thanks to the efforts of Hacknet and Prism. Relationships Family *Maria Cross † - wife *Walter Cross † - son Allies *Black-Hand **Edward Black/Oblivion † - former partner *M.E.T.A. Labs **Dr. Ken Drake/Segaterious - mentor turned enemy **Jason Surge - co-worker *Kayne *David Harmon/Graystar *Deathwatch - hired gun Enemies *The Icons **Ben Stone/Energy - former employee and rival turned archnemesis **Casey Smite/Golden Knight **Kaitlyn Cooper/Firebrand - former employee turned enemy **Michael Hemsey/Guardian **Kelly Connelly/Hacknet *Vindicators **Jackson Elo/Prism - former employee turned enemy **Mystic *New Gemini **Kenji Kenshin/Blacklight - former employee turned enemy **Kid Arachnid **Enchanter **Songbird Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:Main villains Category:Meta-humans Category:Scientists Category:Serial killers Category:Doombringers members